Les Bowen

STAFF WRITER

Les Bowen has covered the Eagles since 2002. Before that, he covered the Flyers for 13 years. He came to the Daily News from the Charlotte Observer in May 1983, just as the Sixers were winning the NBA championship. He thought, "Gosh, this sort of thing must happen all the time here."

Nick Foles has three starts behind him, and Eagles coach Andy Reid made it clear this week that Foles has at least four more starts ahead of him -- Reid announcing Foles will complete the season as the No. 1 QB, regardless of how Michael Vick's concussion recovery goes.

Offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said Thursday he expects, in the wake of Foles' strong performance last week at Dallas, steady progress.

Mornhinweg noted that the Bucs are tops in the NFL against the run, and they play a lot of man-to-man, bump-and-run pass coverage. They rank last against the pass. This might put more of a premium on Foles being able to connect downfield than in any of his previous starts.

"All this 'progressing' and all that, it's over now. No more 'rookies.' That's done. I expect him to play at a high level consistently," Mornhinweg said.

"He sure does some things just naturally. These are some great positives he's got. There are some details ... that we get those taken care of through hard work and preparation, that we'll be in great shape, and he'll be off and running."

An example of such a detail was a second-quarter bomb to Jeremy Maclin that didn't connect in Dallas.

"There was a few plays that all of our young guys, if we get 'em five more reps at those things, they're not going to miss 'em," Mornhinweg said. "That's where we're at there, with some things."

Mornhinweg said Foles " has done an outstanding job with managing the game, with recognition, presnap and postsnap."

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Special teams coordinator Bobby April said the 98-yard touchdown punt return late in Sunday's game by Damaris Johnson actually was a block attempt by the Eagles. The pressure led to a long, low punt, and Johnson was able to split two pairs of defenders and find a seam down the sideline.

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Marty Mornhinweg praised center Dallas Reynolds for playing well in Dallas despite an ankle injury that Mornhinweg had felt during the week would keep Reynolds out of the game.

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Defensive coordinator Todd Bowles said that dismissed defensive line coach Jim Washburn "was never a problem for me."

Bowles said he "found out when everybody else found out. I didn't have any input in that."